Tips on Keeping Your Smartphone Secure

Tips on Keeping Your Smartphone Secure

Tips for Keeping Your Smartphone Secure


For many of us, our cell phones contain our entire world and act as extensions of our lives. From banking to staying in touch with others, many of our daily activities are conducted on our handheld devices. Due to the wealth of information that is often stored on our smartphones this makes them valuable targets for cybercriminals. Since our smartphones contain our most sensitive and personal information, it is extra important that we have proper safety practices in place. Here are some of our recommendations for safety tips that you can implement to keep you and your mobile devices safe. 


1. Be careful when using public Wi-Fi

Connecting to public networks can be dangerous and can introduce new security risks. Other individuals have access to the same network and hackers can access your information and monitor your website traffic. It is important to protect your data and find a way to encrypt your information.If you do choose to use a public network, opt to use a VPN which can help protect your website traffic. Alternatively, you can use a personal hotspot, either from your phone or another dedicated device.


2. Limit location tracking


It is always important to ask if the app is asking for more information than it actually needs to run its programs. If an app has GPS features and helps with directions or travel then it makes sense for it to access your location. However, many other apps also ask for your location without good reason, and they just run the location tracking in the background while you are using the application. Beware of these apps and turn off your location services when you can. 


3. Always update your software


Always update your software as soon as new updates become available. Often, software updates help to fix important bug issues and security gaps. It is important to update your devices to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting pre-existing vulnerabilities. Subscribe to our email blasts to always hear about the biggest updates and keep yourself up to date!


4. Enable Multi-Factor or 2-Factor Authentication

When you access your account with only your password, that is one-factor authentication. To increase the security of your accounts, it is beneficial to layer them with two-factor or multifactor level authentication. Adding this layer of security will help to lower your risk of a security breach. Read more about the types of multi-factor authentication tools we recommend here.


5. Turn off WiFi and Bluetooth


By turning these features off, you prevent your devices from being accessible over airwaves. When you are not using them it can be helpful to keep them off so that your device is less vulnerable to criminals looking for targets. 


More and more cyber criminals are targeting mobile data because of the wealth of sensitive information stored on them. Cyber Unit uses the latest in cyber security to bring the best enterprise-grade security for mobile phones. Learn more here and sign up today to try our mobile security.